Paul Hoffman's 1947-48 NBA Rookie of the Year trophy did not receive the minimum bid of $10,000 at auction yesterday -- and that really didn't bother him.
"My family would have been upset," he said, laughing, after the Mr. Memorabilia auction at the Holiday Inn Cromwell Bridge. "I didn't expect it to sell for $10,000."
The former Baltimore Bullets star said he probably will keep the trophy in his family and lend it to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame. His Purdue All-America uniform is on loan at the Indiana hall. "I don't think I'll be putting it on the national level [at auction] at all," he said.
Hoffman also consigned a number of photographs, many of which were purchased by Bullets fans he knew. A collection of letters and contracts went for $1,300.
"The guys who were buying them already have the pictures that didn't sell," he said. "I didn't put 'em up out of desperation. I still have my pictures at home that I want to keep."
He said he didn't save the kinds of things collectors tend to value -- balls and uniforms.
"We washed our own uniforms," he said. "After the last game, we just tossed them in a pile. . . . I wish I had all the uniforms. . . . The only thing that's valuable is the trophy. My kids would not appreciate pictures of other players as much as collectors."
Hoffman said he is keeping his scrapbooks.
"They're more important than all of this stuff," he said. "I don't think I'll get rid of my scrapbooks. They'll stay in my family."
Among the non-Hoffman items sold at the auction were: an unused Opening Day Orioles ticket from 1954 ($750); a Camden Yards Opening Day ticket ($40); a Super Bowl III program ($130); a 1958 All-Star program autographed by Ford Frick ($130); a 1979 World Series ball autographed by the Orioles and a '79 Series program ($75); and a silver limited edition 1993 All-Star glove autographed by Cal Ripken ($220).